Untitled
by Dyed Snowfall
Summary: The retrieval of Uchiha Sasuke was a failure. Blaming himself, Naruto laid in bed as his eyes drooped to a close. At the same time, Edward and Al failed to transmute their dead mother. And now Al was gone. Coincidence. Not in my eyes.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer** I own nothing of Fullmetal Alchemist or Naruto; all rights remain to Kishimoto Masashi-san and Arakawa Hiromu-san. Though, I claim right to all plot ideas and original characters.

* * *

He stood around the corner, hands fisted and head casted low, hidden under the shadow's curtain. Neji and Chouji were undergoing surgery as Shikamaru sat in front of the door, twirling his shaking fingers as he bit his lower lip. While Kiba laid unconscious in his room, surrounded by a worried sister and mother and wimping packs of dogs, Naruto stood around the corner.

Why, why did all this happen and Sasuke still manage to get away?

The thought echoed in his head; ringing sharply and hollowly. His breath shuttered, chest rising and falling shakingly. With a trembling hand, he raised and pressed it against his chest. So warm and so heavy; guilt and frustration welled up, towering over him and pressuring him into a little insect in a world of so much fucked up shit.

Why, why did -

The thought was abruptly interrupted by rushed footsteps, and then a blob of pink before a slap pierced through the eerie silence of the hospital halls. "What the-," and footsteps raced over to the corner as Temari and Shikamaru watched. Watched tearing jade green eyes as his cheek slowly gained a red hue, stinging in pain and burning in heat. Almost as much as the sudden betrayal weighted down his chest.

"Sa-sakura?!" Temari echoed as he reached up a hand to his cheek, eyes wide in surprise as if not registering.

"Na-" Sakura started but stuttered, gasping for breath, "Naruto. Why, why?!" she cried, pounding a punch against his chest.

"Why didn't you bring him back like you promised?!" her high pitched voice bounced off the walls as Shikamaru's eyes hardened, and Shizune glaringly witnessed the unexpected scene from across the hall.

She pounded another punch against his chest, weaker, as she fell onto him, "Why did everyone have to end up in the hospital?!" she managed in a crack voice. Before she wailed, bawled like a baby that death's door stood in front of Neji and Chouji. Naruto's azure eyes glazed over, hands hesitant before it wrapped themselves around Sakura's shaking shoulders.

"Why..," he echoed, wondering himself. Why indeed.

* * *

**Author's Note** :D Did you read? If you did, clickie the review button for me ;D? Even a smiley as a review will do me some encouragement 8D.

Hmm, I have a rough idea of the plot, but not exactly where I want to go with this. Any ideas, feel free to contribute :D. I shall credit.

So for nao, I hope you enjoyed my prologue(:


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer** I own nothing of Fullmetal Alchemist or Naruto; all rights remain to Kishimoto Masashi-san and Arakawa Hiromu-san. Though, I claim right to all plot ideas and original characters.

* * *

"Naruto," Tsunade said softly, walking up to him and placing a motherly hand on his shoulder, "it's getting late."

He looked up at her, eyes losing their prior shine as the older women cringed at the evident bags under them. How many days had he stayed in the hospital, refusing to leave the surgery room as the light above it glowed an ominous red. "Tsunade.." he said in a hoarse voice, "baa-chan."

It pained her to see him this way; so weak and so fragile. He dropped his head back down, watching blankly at his fisted hands. She sat down next to him, and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh Naruto," she began, "why do you do this to yourself?"

Is he? Is he really doing this to himself?

He hadn't forced Sasuke down the path he took, he didn't encourage Sasuke's sort for vengeance. But, had he really put up much of a resistance in attempt to help Sasuke? Was the promise he made to Sakura, to safely bring Sasuke back, to help her or himself? To comfort her cause her tears pained him, or to redeem himself—to prove to his inner devil—that he was a good "brother," a good friend, a good teammate, that had made an effort in stopping Sasuke? He didn't know.

Tsunade released him after a moment of silence, cupping his cheeks in her hands and forcing him to meet her eyes. "Naruto, you are strong. You will live pass this. If you failed this time, doesn't mean you'll fail the next. And even if you did, there's still the time after that, and the time after that. You must not let this one-time failure stop you."

She moved one hand to his chest, and pressed down lightly. Naruto could feel it, the necklace he earned from her; its cool surface kissed his skin. "Don't make me take that necklace back," she said with an encouraging glare.

Tsunade was worried for him; he forced a smile. "Thank you, Baa-chan." His smile didn't quite reach his eyes, nor did his eyes regain its shine. And his heart, shattered into pieces, definitely didn't piece itself back together.

She noticed, of course, but didn't push on anymore. "Come on, it's late. I'll walk you home, the villagers won't dare do anything as long as I'm around." She got up, and with a motherly smile, offered out a hand. Naruto looked at her, and took it.

Her hand was warm; he hadn't realized it was always this big.

* * *

"Good night," Naruto whispered, voice and body tired, as Tsunade smiled down on him. Patting a hand onto his head, she looked him in the eyes. So cold and so empty, so void of life and so helpless. Bending down, she kissed him on the forehead.

"Good night, Naruto."

Turning around, she left as Naruto rubbed his forehead, a soft smile playing on his lips. "Always treating me like a kid I see," he mumbled to himself before closing the door. At that moment, Tsunade turned around, feeling sickly concerned. Worry danced in her eyes, as her lips pulled down into a frown.

Shaking her head and rubbing her hands together, she rid herself of the sudden coldness. Hopefully, she wasn't imagining anything.

* * *

Naruto dragged his legs over to his bed, before plopping himself down onto his stomach. After a moment of breathing, he flipped himself onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. It was breaking, on the verge of collapsing. His eyes started to droop.

If it did break tonight, closing in on him when in slumber, would he die? Would the fox in his belly allow it? Maybe the ceiling boards would suffocate him even if Kyuubi healed his wounds.

Eyes finally closed, his mind started to drift. Pit black as a coldness seeped under his skin, danced throughout his body before settling at the tips of his fingers, and then blankness, numbness, unknown.

As if in a numbed state, Naruto slept. All the while, the seal on his stomach glowed a crimson red; it rippled like water and then emitted a sizzling sound. Slowly, ever so slowly, creeping over his body like a bug, red chakra wrapped itself around him

Everything was warm, and Naruto stirred, but only slightly.

* * *

First Winry's parents died, and now their mother dies. They lost everything; that godforsaken father left them years back and now they lost everything. Just like how Winry only had Pinako left, they only had themselves left. Eyes dazed as he stared at his mother's tombstone, Edward stood grim faced with Al sitting next to him, legs up and pressed against his chest and arms wrapped around them. Tears, silent and smooth, rolled down his cheeks in beads.

An eight year old with his seven year old brother, what were they suppose to do now?

"Al, let's revive Mom." Yeah, that's the only logical thing to do.

* * *

Water (35 liters), carbon (20 kilograms), ammonia (4 liters), lime (1.5 kilograms), phosphorus (800 grams), salt (250 grams), niter (100 grams), fluorine (7.5 grams), iron (5 grams, and silicon (3 grams). Those were the ingredients that made up an average adult human's body.

Mixed in a tube in the middle of a chalk-drawn human transmutation circle, Ed stared long and hard. As if hesitant and rethinking, _'Is this the right thing to do?'_ Al, nervous and fidgety, stole a glance at the older of the two: "Nii-chan," he choked out in a whisper.

Ed closed his eyes, not answering and not looking. He knew this was not right, that this was forbidden, and that bringing back the dead was **impossible**. But no, he closed his eyes to fight back those thoughts. Even if he could intelligently distinguish that this was wrong, the wrong thing to do, he convinced himself this was right. That not doing so, was wrong.

"Come on Al," he said, after a breath. Two drops of blood onto the sand pile, the brothers looked at each other. Al's eyes, quivering and saying: "No, this is wrong. Let's stop. _Before it's too late_."

But Ed ignored them, harsh eyes that blocked away all the things in the world telling him to stop, and comfortably breathed a "We'll bring her back, don't worry."

Too bad he could fool neither Al, nor himself.

* * *

The night sky, black and glittered with stars, blanked over. Gray clouds that rumbled, grumbled, and snarled. And then a flash of light, bright and blinding as it illuminated the dark room from the window. At its cue, rain fell. One drop, two drop, three drop, and then it poured.

Stones of rain banged against the roof; god was in tears, crying for the fate of these two brothers as they took a step and another down the wrong path. Pounding against the roof, the heavens cried for them to stop, "Edward! Alphonse! Stop! Stop right now! Stop while you can!"

The two swallowed nervously; Ed wiped his brow of a droplet of sweat while Al suppressed a shiver. Bending down onto their knees, they clapped their hands together, before pressing it down onto the chalk patterned on the floor. The circle glared a golden yellow, and then sand pile flared a brilliant gold. The light twisted around itself, twisting like a hurricane around the sand pile before changing color.

A dark purple, black slowly closing in as red bolts blinked. Ed looked around, eyes calmly looking around, examining what was wrong. "Nii—" and then a scream. A horrible scream, agony and fear echoed in his ear as he whipped his head around.

Al was being taken away from him, decomposing and pulled into a door by black baby hands. "Al," he whispered, registering what exactly was going on as he held out a hand.

Ed moved forward, but stopped. His leg, it wouldn't move. He looked, and his eyes widened in terror. His leg, by the same black baby hands, was being decomposed. Al. He turned around, grasping for Al's outreached hand by missing by mere inches. "Al!" Those helpless eyes, screaming for his brother to help him, to save him, to tell him all this was a dream, to tell him this wasn't happening.

"Nii-chan!"

"Al!"

Then Al's tearing face disappeared from his vision.

* * *

Everything was warm, but only for a moment. The cold, Naruto was use to it, but the breezing chill twirled around the pit of his stomach, teasing every inch of his skin before he woke up. Shaking off the itching spreading throughout his back, Naruto looked around him. _Pitter patter._

"Fox?" Naruto asked, all too familiar with his sudden change of surroundings. Walking around as his steps fluttered the water of his sewer mindscape, something at the back of his mind urged him on. Go straight, pass the corner, keep straight and then turn right. Then left and keep straight. Walking, stumbling, wandering the maze, Naruto asked himself why. Why was this happening?

What was this foreshadowing? What was going to happen? Then he broke out in a run. Nothing of the desperate, panic rush in his chest, or the endangered animal instincts that had him run, no, he ran because his legs just did so. Where was he going? Where was Kyuubi?

None of his questions were answered, and more only emerged when he saw light. A white light that he swore wasn't ever there before. _'Was that always there?'_ He ran towards it. Calling out, a force pulled him closer. Something in him hinted that he ran towards it not due to the above, but because he saw it as an escape. Escape from his reality that he so severely wanted to hide from: Sasuke's betrayal, Sakura's tears, Chouji and Neji's possible deaths, and the village's scorn.

So close, so close. He reached out a hand, and advanced toward it. As if passing an invisible force field, Naruto took a step into the white vacancy and stopped, hand held up. He blinked, something didn't feel right. Turning, the dark, a mere square moved away from him, smaller and smaller. It was then that he realized Kyuubi's chakra, red and crimson and leaking with power, was right behind him.

At the end of the tunnel, it formed Kyuubi's face, miniature to an unimaginable size when compared to his actual size, the size that Naruto was oh so familiar with seeing baring fangs at him through sealed cage bars. **"Kit!"** Kyuubi roared, before dispersing, only moments before the tunnel disappeared.

Naruto looked around. It was bright, a white brightness. It was nothing like his mindscape; the feel of a soothing caress against his skin and a relaxing feel in his chest, the complete opposite of the dull and wet sewer. Twisting and turning, it was then he realized he was naked. Not much naked, but in a form he buried deep in his mind. Something he had hoped, tried, strived to hide: the strings of seals that decorated his entire body, as if engraved under the skin. It was what kept him sane; void of those repeating taunts of power that Kyuubi whispered into him mind in his sleep, void of those surges of pain as red and blue chakra fused.

He looked at himself, his hands as they pulsed black in sync with his own heartbeat, his breath. Naruto touched himself, icy fingertips against warm fluttered cheeks; this was real. Whether it was a dream or a fucked up reality, Naruto lowered his head as his hands dropped to his side. "I'm," he mumbled to himself, fisted hands as his head pounded with frustration, "nothing more than a monster." Gritting his teeth, he pulled up his head with a glare. "Where the fuck am I?!" he exclaimed, searching for something to release his anger on.

Then he saw it, a gate looming over him. Before he could even attempt to utter a word, a syllable, a breath of incomprehension, the gate's twin doors snapped open. Tentacles, black baby hands reached out for him. They grabbed him and pulled him in.

"The fuck?!" he cried, watching himself decompose as eyes watched him, giggles singing in his ear.

And then the gate closed.

* * *

"T-this isn't happening," Ed murmured to himself, voice dripping in disbelief before he screamed in pain. He darted his hand to his leg and doubled over onto his arm. "This isn't happening!" he cried, tears welling up at his eyes. He lost mother, now Al. Wait, mother. Mother!

Ed looked up, eyes shimmering in hope, but then hardened. The person, not even, the _thing_ in front of him was not Mother. Gruesome as bones stuck out in disarray and a muddy pile of skin thinly veiled over the skeleton. In the dark, it gasped for air, eyes of crimson red—bloodlust and demonic, silted pupils, sharp and solid—staring into Ed's honey gold that glimmered with despair. An unsteady hand extended forward to him as its mouth opened, and a puff of breath sounded through.

"Don't come near me!" Ed cried, moving away. "Alphonse!" Ed screamed to the top of his lung, dropping to the ground with a stuttering pant. Ignoring the monster the two transmuted, the most important thing now was finding Al. Squinting his eyes, and attempting to see within the darkness of the room, he saw an armored leg, and an idea formed in his head.

Crawling over, a trail of blood following, Ed tripped the vintage armor. The helmet rang out vacantly as the eight year old moved over to the opening. "Al, Al, Al." Desperation. "Give me back my brother," he whispered, eyes tearing as he drew a symbol onto the armor. Hand shaking and dripping with blood, "My only brother, my only family, give him back!" Clapping his hands together, he pressed them against the symbol and it blazed crimson.

When Al came to, the first thing he noticed was that he was back. But, armor? The second thing he noticed was the bloodied state his brother was in; armless and legless, eyes dulled and skin deathly pale. The third thing was the horrid pile of limbs the two had transmuted, watching with shaking azure eyes as hair, unruly dirty blond hair, poked out from his barely skinned head. "What—" the words stumbled out of Al's mouth awkwardly, it rattled out from his armored body hollowly, _'what is that?'_ his thought finished for him.

* * *

**Author's Note** :D Did you read? If you did, clickie the review button for me ;D? Even a smiley as a review will do me some encouragement 8D.

a. I would like to express my gratefulness to my (non-paid) editor (by will). 本当にありがとう！ Despite the boredom that reading this story brought to her, she read through it and tore it into pieces. You would not believe how intimidated I was to correcting my chapter seeing so many mistakes she pointed out D;. She read through it twice too! - But, as per the nature of humans, we are never perfect. So please excuse the mistakes you happen to have stumbled upon whilst reading(:

b. How was it anyways(:? Like, the quality of my writing-wise. Because, as pointed out by the lovely anon-san that took the time to review, there isn't much difference between the anime and my story (yet).


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